Majority support for Australia's overseas aid: poll

A majority of voters say the federal government has a responsibility to give financial assistance to poorer nations and that further cuts to foreign aid would damage Australia’s international standing.

A survey released ahead of Tuesday's federal budget shows 52 per cent agree Australia has “an obligation” to continue to provide aid to poorer nations, while 38 per cent disagreed.

The Essential Media poll done for aid agency ChildFund Australia also found 53 per cent think cutting the overseas aid budget would be bad for Australia’s relations with other countries.

The chief executive of ChildFund Australia, Nigel Spence, said the results proved there was “solid support” in the community for Australia’s aid program.

Mr Spence said relatively good economic conditions and a recent improvement in federal revenue meant overseas aid should be spared further cuts.

“We can afford to have a strong Australian aid program,” he said.

Treasurer Scott Morrison says the budget will include tax relief for “middle to lower income Australians”. The government is also pushing ahead with a controversial plan to reduce tax rates for big businesses.

But the poll found six in every 10 voters agreed overseas aid should not be cut "to fund tax cuts" for big businesses.

“When business tax cuts were juxtaposed with the aid program we got a strong public response,” Mr Spence said.

“The idea that we might cut aid to directly or indirectly support corporate tax cuts rankles with the Australian public; there is a sense of unfairness about that.”

Poll respondents were also asked if they agreed Australia should not cut overseas aid given growing Chinese influence in our region “including through China’s foreign aid spending”. A total of 41 per cent agreed with the statement while 36 per cent disagreed and 24 per cent didn’t know.

A majority of voters support Australia's overseas aid programCredit:Dave Hunt

Since 2013 Australia’s official aid budget has fallen by 30 per cent even though overall government spending has grown by about 10 per cent in that period.

Since 2012-13 Australia’s foreign aid as a share of gross national income (GNI) has fallen from 0.34 per cent to an all-time low of about 0.23 per cent.

In March, a “peer review” of Australia’s aid program by the influential Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development was unusually critical of the government’s aid performance. It called for Australia to “reverse” the trend of deep aid cuts.

But last month the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, told an audience in London that research showed “about 80 per cent of Australians believe that we should not be spending more on foreign aid or that what we spend is about right”.

The international aid group Oxfam said it was "alarmed" by the minister's claim.